38 Mr. R. Hall on the 



Near Accessible Bay on February 8th I observed many young 

 birds nearly ready to fly. In their stomachs I found the 

 tongues o£ Prions and Penguins. 



Daption capensis (Linn.) ; Salvin^ Cat. B. xxv. p. 428. 



The Cape Pigeon is a fearless bird. In Greenland Harbour 

 I observed them in flocks of from 20 to 30_, and at Accessible 

 Bay I found their nests. When seal-skins were being towed 

 by the small boat, a flock of seventeen would sit on the water 

 around the floating skins and vigorously peck at their edges 

 to get as much fat as possible, using all their energy in the 

 work, and " clucking " rapidly and tremulously. 



In the flock seen at Greenland Harbour all the birds 

 seemed to be mature, and the young must either have been 

 still in their nests, or had moulted thus early into full dress. 

 At Accessible Bay (Betsy Cove) on February 7th I observed 

 four nests, each with one young one partially covered with 

 down. The nests were in the cavities of a rough clifl^, and 

 were simply hollows, without any attempt to place weeds in 

 them. I saw two adults sitting in a sheltered nook, without 

 egg or young ; and one of these birds was placing little stones, 

 one by one, around it with the bill, as if to make the nesting- 

 place comfortable. The instinct of the bird evidently is to 

 collect something to make a nest, but it is almost lost, and 

 the few stones in all the nests were of no use, so far as I 

 could see. These cavities or grottoes (approximately 6x3x3 

 feet) were about 50 feet above sea-level, and by stooping 

 I could get inside them, except in one case. A little climb 

 brought me to an old bird, which clucked and made its trill ; 

 and I surprised another on its nest, but it did not fly, though 

 it vigorously defended its young, and jumped backward and 

 forward. I kept at a respectful distance from the young 

 one, as it had an unknown supply of oily matter. In each 

 of these nests was a young bird, partially in down, about as 

 large as the parents, and in the daytime each of them was 

 attended by one parent. The young may be described thus : — 

 Length 12*75 inches : down, generally greyish above, greyish 

 white below; bill black. 



